RM

NAME

rm −
remove files or directories

SYNOPSIS

rm
[OPTION]... FILE...

DESCRIPTION

This manual
page documents the GNU version of rm. rm
removes each specified file. By default, it does not remove
directories.

If the
−I or −−interactive=once
option is given, and there are more than three files or the
−r, −R, or
−−recursive are given, then rm
prompts the user for whether to proceed with the entire
operation. If the response is not affirmative, the entire
command is aborted.

Otherwise, if a
file is unwritable, standard input is a terminal, and the
−f or −−force option is not
given, or the −i or
−−interactive=always option is given,
rm prompts the user for whether to remove the file.
If the response is not affirmative, the file is skipped.

OPTIONS

Remove (unlink)
the FILE(s).
−f, −−force

ignore nonexistent files and
arguments, never prompt

−i

prompt before every removal

−I

prompt once before removing more than three files, or
when removing recursively; less intrusive than
−i, while still giving protection against most
mistakes

−−interactive[=WHEN]

prompt according to WHEN:
never, once (−I), or always (−i);
without WHEN, prompt always

−−one−file−system

when removing a hierarchy
recursively, skip any directory that is on a file system
different from that of the corresponding command line
argument

−−no−preserve−root

do not treat ’/’
specially

−−preserve−root

do not remove ’/’
(default)

−r,
−R, −−recursive

remove directories and their
contents recursively

−d,
−−dir

remove empty directories

−v,
−−verbose

explain what is being done

−−help

display this help and exit

−−version

output version information and
exit

By default, rm
does not remove directories. Use the
−−recursive (−r or
−R) option to remove each listed directory,
too, along with all of its contents.

To remove a
file whose name starts with a ’−’, for
example ’−foo’, use one of these
commands:

rm
−− −foo

rm
./−foo

Note that if
you use rm to remove a file, it might be possible to recover
some of its contents, given sufficient expertise and/or
time. For greater assurance that the contents are truly
unrecoverable, consider using shred.